In a high-stakes Atlantic 10 Conference battle that lived up to its billing as a clash between two of the A10’s top teams, No. 18 Saint Louis Billikens delivered a dominant second-half performance to defeat the VCU Rams 88-75 on Friday night at a sold-out Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis. The victory extended the Billikens’ home winning streak to 20 games and solidified their grip on first place in the conference standings.
Saint Louis (25-2 overall, 13-1 A-10) trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half and entered halftime down 42-33. VCU (21-7, 12-3 A-10) burst out to an 11-0 lead and controlled much of the opening period. However, the Billikens flipped the script after the break, exploding for 55 points in the second half while holding the Rams to just 33.
The comeback ignited around the midway point of the second half. With the score at 57-49 in VCU’s favor, Saint Louis unleashed a decisive 21-2 run. Kellen Thames sparked the surge with 10 of his second-half points, including the first seven in the streak. Robbie Avila’s bucket gave the Billikens their first lead at 61-59 with 9:33 remaining. The run featured key contributions from Ishan Sharma’s three-pointer, a Thames steal and layup, and back-to-back triples from Avila and Sharma.
The Rams briefly cut the deficit to seven at 70-63, but Saint Louis responded with a 12-3 spurt, capped by consecutive three-pointers from Avila and Sharma, pushing the lead to 82-66 with 3:34 left and securing the win.
Thames led the balanced Billikens attack with 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, adding a career-high five steals. Sharma went 4-of-6 from three-point range for 13 points (10 in the second half), while Avila (5-of-8 FG, two threes), Amari McCottry, and Robbie Avila each scored 13. Quentin Jones added 11 points, and Trey Green chipped in nine off three triples. Paul Otieno grabbed a season-high eight rebounds (five offensive), and Dion Brown pulled down seven as Saint Louis evened the rebounding battle at 42-42 after trailing in the first half.
The Billikens shot an impressive 51.5% from the field overall (34-of-66), including 58.3% (21-of-36) in the second half, and 40% (10-of-25) from beyond the arc. Their defense clamped down in the decisive half, limiting VCU to 22.6% shooting (7-of-31) and 7.1% from deep (1-of-14).
The game’s excitement, however, was overshadowed by an unfortunate incident in the final seconds. With Saint Louis comfortably ahead and time winding down, a sequence involving a hard foul by Robbie Avila on VCU’s Nyk Lewis led to pushing and shoving. Both benches cleared, resulting in ejections for several players, including flagrant fouls on VCU’s Barry Evans and Saint Louis’ Quentin Jones, along with nearly all bench players from both sides. The chaos left VCU with only four players to finish the final 1.1 seconds.
On Saturday, the Atlantic 10 Conference issued a statement addressing the incident:
“The Atlantic 10 has issued reprimands to both Saint Louis and VCU for violating sportsmanship policies in the A-10 Code of Conduct during the incident at the conclusion of the Friday night game. Additionally, both programs will be fined according to conference policy. There will be no conference-issued suspensions as the officials adjudicated the incident within the prescribed rules of the game in exemplary fashion. This was an unfortunate end to a great college basketball game between two of the best teams in the nation. The A-10 considers the matter closed and looks forward to the remainder of the regular season and the Atlantic 10 Championship in Pittsburgh in March.”
The league praised the on-court officials for handling the situation effectively, and the matter is considered resolved without further player suspensions from the conference.
Saint Louis maintains a two-game lead in the loss column over VCU with four regular-season games left. The Billikens next travel to Dayton on Tuesday, Feb. 24, for a 6 p.m. CST tip-off. The win keeps Saint Louis firmly in control of their destiny in the A-10 race, despite the late-game drama.
